Celebrating a jazz legend

Jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk in April 1976 at Sparky J's in Newark.

Bright Moments: A Celebration of the Life & Legacy of Rahsaan Roland Kirk

. Where: St. Peter's Church, 619 Lexington Ave., New York. When: Dec. 10, 7 p.m. How much: $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Call (212) 721-3341. If ever modern jazz had an idiosyncratic figure, it was Rahsaan Roland Kirk. A self-taught musician, Kirk could play just about any reed instrument, including three saxophones, not just in unison but in harmony. That alone would set most musicians apart, but it's only a starting point for Kirk, a major concert attraction in the $?'60s and $?'70s. Kirk also sang, led his own bands, recorded, wrote his own material, incorporated excerpts from speeches and nature sounds into his performances, gave his albums ("The Return of the 5000 lb. Man") and songs ("Slippery, Hippery, Flippery") unique titles, and never forgot a tune. He played instruments from bygone days of jazz, modified his own horns into one-of-a-kind instruments and made music in offbeat ways, like breaking a chair in time with the beat. As such, his physically demanding shows were as absorbing visually as they were aurally. If that weren't enough, Kirk helped organize community protests, wore colorful outfits, was known to tear into inattentive audiences, battled with promoters and record executives over fees and hoped to turn his home in East Orange into a music school until his untimely death. The list goes on, and he did it all as someone who was blind from age 4. "Rahsaan was just a totally amazing musician and human being," said Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers-Newark. "It's a pity he died so young. There was so much more he was prepared to do." Thirty years after his death at 41 on Dec. 5, 1977, Kirk and his musical contributions are set to return to the spotlight in a special event in New York. Kirk's widow, Dorthaan, said next week's show will be a multi-media extravaganza with video, live music and personal reminiscences. A featured artist will be trombonist Steve Turre, a resident of Montclair, who performed with Kirk on and off after meeting him as a teenager in San Francisco in 1966. He joined Kirk's last band -- The Vibration Society -- 10 years later. Turre's first show as a full-time member of the band was at Kirk's comeback concert, held in Newark the last weekend of April 1976. It followed a stroke Kirk suffered in November 1975 that severely impaired his right side, a major handicap for most any musician. But hardly for Kirk. "He could still play 'Giant Steps' with one hand," recalled Turre, referring to John Coltrane's uptempo classic. According to his widow, Kirk gave the company that made his instruments detailed instructions in how to reconfigure his horns to allow him to continue to play. This, after technicians doubted the job could be done. "When Rahsaan said something, no matter how ridiculous it might sound, it was something he'd thought through," recalled Dorthaan Kirk, special events and program coordinator at WBGO-FM Jazz 88 in Newark. "He knew what he was talking about. I learned not to second-guess him." The Newark comeback brought out some of the biggest names in jazz, artists such as George Benson, McCoy Tyner and Pharoah Sanders. It was held at Sparky J's, a now-defunct club at the corner of Halsey and William streets in downtown. On the other side of the intersection was the Key Club, another of Newark's famed jazz spots. Incredibly, the same weekend Kirk made his return, Newark native Sarah Vaughan was in town and sat in with singer Irene Reid at the Key Club. Retired Star-Ledger critic George Kanzler was at both shows and devoted a column to the coincidental convergence of jazz greats. While noting he could no longer play two and three instruments simultaneously, Kirk was still able to deliver "a poignant and powerful performance that works as theater, as spiritual message and as music," Kanzler wrote. At one point, he added, Kirk and Turre ventured out into the night with their horns blazing, crossed the street and played into the door of the Key Club, leaving the critic with the feeling he was standing "at the jazz corner of the world." Turre remembered Benson, who was riding the popularity of his hit "Breezin'" at the time, sitting in the front row of Sparky J's on opening night, cheering Kirk on. The band rehearsed for all of one afternoon before taking the bandstand, he said. A jazz mainstay also known for playing the shells, Turre said Kirk's influence remains with him to this day. He still shakes his head in disbelief when he thinks about some of the things Kirk did. Turre recalled Kirk once permitting a Japanese saxophone student to sit in with the band, even letting the neophyte pick the tune. After playing a blues, Kirk said he'd choose the next number. When Kirk began playing the opening bars of a Japanese folk song, Turre remembered, the youth's mouth fell open. "You know that?" he asked, his question already answered. "They played together, and it was beautiful," Turre said. Trumpeter Ted Curson of Montclair also hasn't stopped marveling at Kirk. The two played together under the leadership of Charles Mingus almost 50 years ago. Curson remembered Kirk making a regular habit of stopping by his apartment at all hours of the night to try out some new idea when they lived in the same East Village building in the late$?'60s. Kirk once showed up with a trumpet mouthpiece attached to a clarinet, he said. Because the visits usually occurred when he was asleep, Curson said they grew to be annoying. To try to end them, Curson decided to return the favor and pay Kirk an early morning visit of his own. He recalled tiptoeing down the stairs and tapping on Kirk's door, hoping to wake him up, only to have Kirk boom out: "Come in, Ted, what's on your mind?" "It so blew me away I forgot what I was going to say to him," said Curson. "I didn't think he'd be awake, let alone know who it was." Kirk's senses were so keen he could identify people by their smell, and he sized up strangers by their voice, Turre said. Both before and after his stroke, Kirk was a star on the international jazz circuit, playing concerts halls, colleges, the major clubs and festivals all over the U.S. and world. Although he didn't play in New Jersey that often, he sometimes hung out when he was home. Saxophonist Leo Johnson, a regular on the Newark jazz scene for more than 40 years, recalled Kirk stopping by a Market Street club one night. "My saxophone was squeaking, and Rahsaan leaned over and said, 'Hey Leo, get the rats out of your horn,'" Johnson remembered. What he heard couldn't have bothered him that much since Kirk subsequently invited Johnson to join him on a Village Vanguard gig. Buddy Terry, another Newark saxophonist, recalled running into Kirk one night outside Penn Station, while Kirk was waiting to catch a cab home from a date in New York. "He had all these things around his neck, at least three or four instruments," said Terry. "It was like he was carrying his home with him." Born Ronald Kirk in Columbus, Ohio, Kirk first added "Roland" to his name, then "Rahsaan," as the story goes, from something that came to him in a dream. He started out on the trumpet but switched to saxophone at the Ohio State School for the Blind. Kirk was first noticed on the national jazz scene in 1960. It was by taking circular breathing to a level no one has ever duplicated that he was able to play more than one sax at the same time, said Morgenstern. Some saw that and other of his feats as publicity stunts. New York Times music critic John Wilson once reviewed a concert saying Kirk had sadly let "gimmicks" overshadow his considerable talents. In his book "The History of Jazz," author Ted Gioia claimed Kirk's versatility became a curse. "Had he focused on one or two instruments, he would have been acknowledged as a master," Gioia added. "Instead, he was too often dismissed as little more than a jazz novelty act." But to many, arguing showmanship has no place in jazz misses the point of what Kirk was all about. "Rahsaan had a great sense of humor," Morgenstern said. "A lot of his stuff was fun, as well as being musically interesting. That was part of his personality." The knock bothered Kirk because "he was proud of the fact that he would and could outplay anyone on any of his horns," Morgenstern added. "His attitude was he didn't need to do the other stuff. I remember a jam session where he played the tenor exclusively and wiped everyone out." Married three times, Kirk settled with Dorthaan, his third wife, on Midland Avenue in East Orange in July 1974, in a home she still inhabits. He had one child, a son, Rory, from a previous relationship. Even though he returned to touring after his comeback in Newark, Kirk never shook his health problems. At a Town Hall concert held in his honor in May 1977, he needed to lean against a piano to stay on his feet, recalled Al Patterson, a trombonist from Cranford who was in the house band. "But his playing was absolutely awesome," Patterson said. "It's an experience I'll never forget." Kirk suffered a fatal heart attack the day after a concert at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, as he was being driven to the airport to fly to Chicago. Though he was rushed to a nearby hospital, doctors couldn't revive him. His death robbed jazz not only of one of its most spirited attractions but also one of its major innovators. Even today, fans of the music hold the musician they call simply "Rahsaan" in special esteem. "Rahsaan was a throwback to an earlier era in jazz when musicians were outgoing and prone to do things some might criticize as exhibitionism," said Morgenstern. "But he was a great communicator who involved his musicians in what he was doing, and he loved to feel a response from an audience. "There's no doubt Rahsaan was unique. He'll be appreciated by people who are serious about jazz for a long time to come." Saxman's 6 Here are a half-dozen albums that Rahsaan Roland Kirk was most proud of, as selected by his widow: 1.) "Rip, Rig and Panic" (EmARcy) 2.) "Volunteered Slavery" (Rhino) 3.) "Rahsaan/Rahsaan" (Atlantic) 4.) "Natural Black Inventions: Root Strata" (Atlantic) 5.) "Blacknuss" (Atlantic) 6.) "Bright Moments" (Rhino)

Guy Sterling is a recipient of an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award this year for outstanding musical coverage. He may be reached at gsterling@starledger.com or (973) 392-4088.